Sperm donors in Shanghai, China: A study of motivations, characteristics, and semen parameters of actual sperm donors

Abstract

Objective: To identify the sociodemographic characteristics, motivations, and semen parameters of sperm donors in Shanghai, China. Methods: The participants were sperm donors associated with the Human Sperm Bank of Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Among the 334 sperm donors that applied for participation, 329 completed the survey process. The responses obtained in the questionnaire and face-to-face interviews were used to investigate the donor motivations and characteristics, and the semen quality was examined to identify the sperm parameter. Results: In terms of the sociodemographic characteristics, an altruistic donor in this study was aged between 26 and 30 years, was single, did not have a child, had a college or undergraduate education level, was of the Han ethnicity, and worked full time. The strongest motivation highlighted by sperm donors was a donation for altruistic (26.4%, n = 87) reasons. The second-highest rated motivation was curiosity (20.7%, n = 68), followed by a desire to procreate (17.9%, n = 59). “Complimentary body checks” (14.3%, n = 47) and “financial incentives” (14.7%, n = 47) were regarded as less important. The average semen parameters of the 329 donors were as follows: the semen volume was 3.39 ± 1.21 mL, the semen concentration was 82.75 × 106/mL, the progressive motility rate (PR%) was 63.77% ± 3.13%, the total motility rate was 66.26%, the total progressive motile count was 158.31% ± 54.43 × 106/mL, and the round cell concentration was 0.38 ± 0.51 × 106/mL. The PR% of the procreation motivation group was significantly higher than that of the other motivation groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Sperm donors in Shanghai, China, are altruistic about their donation, although curiosity is also a key motivator. In addition, the decisions of donors are culturally influenced, and the motivation to procreate may influence the PR%.